Chapter 10

Midnight Oil

Alexia looked at her watch, 8:30 pm. She finished her reports, gathered things from her locker and changed her black pinstriped dress shirt and dress pants for a quarter sleeved carbon gray tee shirt and jeans. She packed her duffle bag and went back to her desk.

When she got to her desk, she found Rick Stetler waiting for her. Damn, what does he want now? I do not have time for this. Neither of them saw Frank and Horatio on the far side of the office, watching.

"Detective Davis." Rick greeted.

Alexia could not help but laugh, "Stetler, what do I owe the honor this time?"

"I told you I would find out about you." he said, a little too proudly.

"If you know everything, then why are you here?" she replied keeping her body language, expression and tone very relaxed.

"I want to know about Andrew Collins and the attack on you today?"

Frank and Horatio looked at one another.

"I am not at liberty to discuss him, nor will I discuss anything else with you."

"I can get authorization to investigate you."

Alexia looked down and smirked. She looked back up at him, "Whatever Rick.", with that she began to walk away.

First, it was Horatio, now her, Rick had enough of this woman's attitude. He reached out and grabbed her, jerking her back to him. With one hand, he held her arm and with the other, he grabbed her jaw. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?" Rick ground out, giving Alexia a shake for good measure.

It took everything Alexia had not to free herself from him, but she knew that she could not if she did not want to compromise her position.

"I think it's time to break up the party, don't you Frank?" Horatio said, making his way over to Alexia and Stetler, followed by Frank.

Rick saw Horatio walk up behind Alexia, but did not know that Frank was standing right behind him. He knew that he was going to regret what he just did. No matter, I can make it go away, just like everything else.

"Alexia, is everything alright?" Horatio asked

Rick slowly let go of Alexia and stepped back, only to run into Frank who did not move. He turned around to find himself face to face with a very pissed off Frank Tripp.

"Guys, we were just talking." Rick tried to justify.

Horatio just sneered at Rick. He had neither compassion nor tolerance for those who abused others, especially women and children. He bent over, picked up Alexia's bag and keys that she had dropped when Rick grabbed her. He handed them to Alexia.

"Always bailing people out, huh, Horatio." Rick replied.

Horatio and Frank walked Alexia outside. Rick followed them out. He could not resist making one last comment

"Alexia, I heard that you begged Collins for your life and that it wasn't the only thing you did to try to get him to let you go."

Alexia stopped, but did not turn around. She just tilted her head and looked at Horatio, then at Frank. I have had enough of this bullshit. She turned around and saw Rick standing there looking smug.

"You want to talk about Collins, ok. Only if you're off the clock." She said as she gestured for him to come to her. Rick came over.

"Ok then, I am off the clock."

Alexia smiled. Before Rick knew what happened, Alexia reached back and gave Rick a right hook that landed him on the ground. Alexia closed the distance and stood over Stetler. He tried to turn over when he felt weight on his back.

Alexia kneeled down, getting close enough to talk in Rick ear, "I don't beg for anyone. You want to come at me with accusations; this was not the day to do that." she said callously.

She slow stood up and put on her sunglasses. She walked over to Frank and Horatio, picked up her things and walked to her car. They just watched her walk away. Rick, by now, had gotten up.

They started to go back into the building. Horatio paused by Rick as he and Frank passed by him.

"You ok, Rick? That looked like that hurt."

Frank laughed as he walked in behind Horatio. They went up to his office.

"She isn't someone I'd want to be on the wrong side of." Frank chuckled.

"I would agree." Horatio commented.

Frank and Horatio stayed three more hours, working on the case from the beach. They called it a night at 11 pm. Out in the parking lot, the men said goodnight. Frank pulled out and headed home, leaving Horatio by his car. He sent a text message to a number and got the reply, I am fine. He got into his car and went home.

Alexia got home, grabbed something to eat and changed into a pair of shorts and a long sleeved lightweight Henley. She looked in the bathroom mirror; light bruises were beginning to show up on her lower jaw. Alexia gingerly took off the butterfly band-aid. She winched and grabbed a washcloth.

The doorbell drew her back to reality. She went to the door to answer it.

"Who is it?"

"Casper."

She laughed at the nickname. They picked that one so she would know it was Scott at the door.

She opened it, "come in."

Scott came in and went into the dining room. He sat down an evidence box that contained files from investigation into Braxton's personal finances. He walked into the kitchen. He watched Alexia get some ice out of the freezer. When she turned around, Scott just looked at Alexia.

"I've looked worse Scott." Alexia said flatly.

Scott sat at the dining room table, looking at Alexia. They were lucky; Collins could have blown Alexia's cover. It would have raised too many questions that she would have been unable to answer. He noticed that Alexia still had her wig and contacts in with a long sleeve shirt on.

"You okay, Alexia?" Scott inquired.

Alexia looked at Scott, "Where were you, Scott?"

"I was there. I had your back."

"Really? Why didn't you call me and tell me that Andrew was in Miami?"

"I didn't have time, Alexia. You and Horatio had just left for that crime scene. Andrew was at the lab, waiting outside for you. I saw you look around. You knew something was wrong, but you could not see him. He was hiding behind that group of officers outside."

"Okay."

"Where did the bruises on your jaw come from?" Scott asked. He only remembered Collins' backhand landing on her cheek.

"You can thank Rick for that," she explained, "he was waiting for me by my desk. He found out about Collins and wanted more information. I blow him off, went to leave and he grabbed me."

"What else happened?"

"Horatio and Frank broke up the party. I did not even know they were there. They walked me out and Trent followed us. He made the suggestion that I begged and indulged Collins so he would let my go."

"Oh … that was mistakes."

"I told him that I would talk to him if he was off the clock. He came over and said that he was. So I smiled then gave him a right hook and made it clear that I don't beg for anyone and that it was not a good day to make accusations."

Scott shook his head, "you are a real piece of work Alexia. Let's get to work."

Slowly, they started going through the files when Alexia noticed a pattern in Rick's deposits.

"Every three months, Rick deposits 2000.00 into his savings account, but the balance only increases about 500." Alexia observed, trying to find where other 1500.00 went.

"So, who's paying, what are they paying for and who really pulling the strings?" Scott commented.

"Oh, let me see," Alexia smiled, "Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with candlestick, commissioned by Miss Scarlet."

Scott just looked at her and laughed, "Nice, Alexia, very nice."

"You left the door open," she giggled, "I had to say something."

He looked at the clock, "do you have to work tomorrow?"

She stretched and yawned, "no and I definitely would have kicked you out if had to."

Scott looked at the account statement from the current cycle, "Do you think you can go into the office Monday and run the account number on this?"

"No, it'll raise too many questions, but let me see if I can pull a few strings."

Scott nodded and started to gather things up. He finished packing up the evidence box while Alexia got some documents from her office.

"I found these when I went through Stetler's personnel file. Being IAB, he can get into anyone's file, except those undercover. Only the handlers and supers have access to those."

"True," Scott agreed, "what's Rick been up to?"

"He's been frequently accessing different undercover officers from different departments. One of those officers, I recall having been killed when a drug deal went south, much to the shock her supervisors …"

"Alexia, what are you getting at?" Scott inquired.

"I'll let you know."

He nodded, knowing that he was not going to get anymore out of her. Scott grabbed the box and headed for the door. Alexia opened it for him.

"Have a nice day off Alexia."

"Have I ever told you hw much I detest being called by my cover when I'm not working?"

"I know," he chuckled, "good night Bec."

Alexia closed the door, locked the door, and armed the security system. Alexia walked into her bedroom, closed the vertical blind, and went into the bathroom. She took off her wig, took her contacts out and got into the shower. The hot water felt good on her skin. It relieved the dull ache that had plagued her all day.

She dried off and winched when she wiped her face. Alexia wrapped the towel around her and walked back into her bedroom. She put on a pair of lavender cotton shorts and a white tank top. She looked at the clock; it was 4:30 am. Alexia sat down on the bed and opened the drawer of the bedside table. She took out an old picture and sighed. It was of a man and woman holding a five-year-old girl with copper hair. Alexia put it away and slept into a peaceful sleep.